Consequences
by SelDear
Summary: Everything has consequences.
1. Return to Edora

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** This story was written in March-April 2002, and, at the time, was the longest story I'd ever written. At the time, they were just filming Season Six, and there was speculation about who and what characters would be returning. This was one of my offerings.

**Consequences **

**Part One**

"Fifth Chevron, locked!"

"So, Jack, did Captain Forrester specify why SG-1 was needed at the Edoran research station?" Daniel's question was clearly audible even over the noise of the Stargate's motion.

"No, Daniel, he didn't." The reply was terse, and for once, Daniel took the hint and shut up.

Major Samantha Carter carefully faced the Stargate, keeping her expression perfectly neutral. Certainly, Edora had some less pleasant memories for her, but that was no reason not to maintain professional composure. The research station had been in operation for nearly eighteen months now, and if there had been anything to report before this, surely this call would have come earlier - wouldn't it?

Still, she wished that she didn't have such an uncomfortable churning feeling in her stomach.

The blue-white wave billowed out like spume from a blowhole, settling to the rippling pond-like surface, and Sam put her doubts and fears behind her, walking up the ramp at the 'go ahead' nod from her CO.

She glanced over the huge arc of the metal ring with its arcane symbols and alien technology and a smile touched her face. The kind of skill and knowledge it would have taken to develop this wormhole portal never ceased to stun or humble her. She might be the foremost technical expert on the Earth Stargate, but her knowledge paled in comparison to the people who'd built the Stargate system in the first place.

She took one glance back at her team, arrayed out behind her, and then stepped through the event horizon and into the wormhole.

Five years of experience travelling through the Stargate had developed an iron stomach in Sam, and some useful guidelines. If she had any choice in the matter, she never went through a Stargate backwards, with a migraine, or after a big lunch. Of course, when given the choice between her migraine and her life, she usually chose her life.

She emerged from the Stargate in a sunny Edoran glade, her team mates a moment behind her.

An assortment of people stood waiting for them in the glade. She saw Captain Forrester of SG-12 looking worried, a set of parallel creases marking his brow. Behind him were an assortment of people, SG-12, some of the villagers, and a couple of scientists from the research station. Dr. Vernon waved cheerfully at her.

Her team mates emerged from the event horizon, and the wormhole disconnected behind them. The Colonel stumped down the stairs. "Captain Forrester."

"Colonel O'Neill." The man saluted and promptly began babbling. "I'm sorry, sir, but I didn't know what to do and this isn't exactly in the manual they give you when you first start 'gating..."

"Forrester, I've just been dragged from my week of downtime blissfully watching the reruns of last season's hockey playoffs to come here. Why don't you start by telling me..." He trailed off.

Behind Sam, Daniel inhaled sharply. She knew how he felt. Her palms felt clammy and her breath caught in her throat. Carefully, she swallowed and felt her stomach – in spite of having eaten over three hours ago – pump in the urge to retch.

"Fair Day, Jack."

The Colonel's mouth moved, but it took a moment for sound to come out, "Fair Day, Laira." He looked from her to the child she carried in her arms. A toddler, not more than two years old; dark-eyed and brown-haired. Emotion flickered across his face, "And this is..."

"My daughter, Mia." the Edoran woman said quietly.

The child studied Jack's face with her pretty, dark eyes, unaware of the consternation she was causing in four hearts. One hand was firmly embedded in her mouth as she sized up the man before her. Then a smile broke out on the baby features and she twisted from her mother's arms and opened her arms to him, demanding to be held.

Like a man in a dream, the Colonel took the child from her mother, shuffling his P-90 to one side and settling her in the crook of his arm. "Mia..."

Daniel's hand touched her elbow, steadying Sam, and she met his gaze squarely, then turned to Captain Forrester. "I take it this is why we were called here, Captain?" She kept her voice quiet, but sensed the Colonel turn anyway.

"Y...Yes, ma'am. I...didn't know what else to do..."

As well he wouldn't.

In her mind she heard her father's voice from long ago: _Your emotions come second to the task that must be done, Sam. If you can't put your emotions away, then the Air Force has no use for you._ She'd learned that lesson well, and while her control was not always perfect, she had practised doing what she didn't want to do, saying what she didn't want to say when her superiors didn't give the leeway to speak her mind freely.

"You did the right thing, Captain," she heard herself say, and gave him a smile she didn't quite feel. Then she turned to meet the opaque expression of her CO and felt a cold hand squeeze around her heart. "Sir, we'll be at the research station for the next few hours." The Colonel would want time to discuss the situation with Laira without his team looking over his shoulder.

Was there a glimmer of regret in his eyes as he met her gaze for a long still second? If so, it was swiftly masked, and he nodded. "Very well, Carter." He turned, and with Laira at his side, walked away from his team down the path that led to the village.

**End of Part One**


	2. Much To Be Said

**Consequences**

**Part Two**

Daniel Jackson looked worriedly at Major Carter as they came down the ramp in the SGC Gate room. She seemed pale but composed to Teal'c. There was an aura of serenity about her, undiminished by the news of O'Neill's fatherhood. It had clung to her all day, a purity that cleansed her in a manner he couldn't describe.

O'Neill glanced at her once as he walked down to greet General Hammond.

"SG-1, what news from Edora?"

He looked from face to face, seeing the tension written there, until O'Neill said at last, "A private briefing might be in order, sir."

If the General was surprised by the request, he did not display it openly. "Very well. SG-1, report to Dr. Fraiser in the infirmary, then I'd like to see Colonel O'Neill in my office at eighteen-hundred hours."

They filed up to the corridor to the elevator in silence.

Teal'c sensed there was much that wanted to be said – much that needed to be said; yet nobody spoke. His three friends faced the front of the lift, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter retaining their more formal expressions, a crease marking Daniel Jackson's brow.

"So the child _is_ yours?" Daniel Jackson asked.

O'Neill twitched, glancing behind him at the younger man. "Yes."

In her corner, Major Carter neither moved nor responded to the interchange between the two men.

While O'Neill had spent the time with the Edoran woman and his daughter, the rest of SG-1 had involved themselves in activity around the research station. Daniel Jackson had been dragged out to the hills by the younger children of the village who wished to show him their hidey-holes in the caves. Major Carter had engrossed herself in discussion with the scientists working at the station regarding the naquadah tests they'd been performing. Teal'c had found himself sparring with one of the Lieutenants in a grassy clearing in the woods. It had been a good contest – while Teal'c had the reach of the wiry woman, she possessed lightning-swift reflexes that would have been the envy of even Bra'tac. At the conclusion of the match, they discovered they had an audience - a ring of awed adolescents watching them.

O'Neill returned to the research station as his team was preparing to leave later that afternoon. They asked no questions then, and received no answers. Only now had Daniel Jackson asked the question and received the affirmation from their team-mate.

Things would be changing.

Little was said as they endured the brief post-gate inspection. A cursory blood test, and not much else. Edora was a known planet, holding little danger of infection. Dr. Fraiser murmured something to Major Carter in the cubicle beyond, and Major Carter replied softly enough that the reply was indeterminable.

When they reached the locker rooms, Major Carter was already finished and gone. The door stood open, wisps of steam uncurling from the doorway.

As they stripped off their clothing, picked their pockets clear of the knick-knacks they took off-world with them, and reached for towels, Teal'c chose that moment to speak. "Congratulations, O'Neill, on being a father again."

Daniel Jackson wrapped his towel around his waist, snapped his glasses shut and put them on the ledge in his locker, and made for the showers.

The support evidently made O'Neill uncomfortable, for he winced gently. Ill at ease with the news, and yet also exultant. Glancing up, he gave his friend a brief smile, "Thanks, Teal'c." Then he looked back down and continued the perusal of his pockets, lost in his own thoughts.

Teal'c let him be.

Later, he found Daniel Jackson in his office. In the corner, Major Carter sat on a stool, listing to lean against the wall with a compassionate expression as Daniel Jackson grumbled about this and that.

Nothing of, which the archaeologist spoke had anything to do with O'Neill and the discovery of his parenthood, yet Teal'c sensed that the topic lay very close to the surface of Daniel Jackson's thoughts.

During a lapse in his friend's ramblings, Teal'c asked: "Daniel Jackson, does it disturb you that O'Neill should have fathered this child on Laira of Edora?" He observed Major Carter's faint grimace, and made a silent apology to her. He knew of the feeling between his friends – he had been witness to their 'confessions'. This would disturb and distress the Major, and Teal'c would make every effort to provide her with the support she required in such a difficult time. Love and the emotions it engendered were rarely straightforward, and this 'love triangle' was more complex than most.

Daniel Jackson fell silent, staring at his work. Then he looked up at Teal'c. "It's not the child, Teal'c – it's what she represents."

Teal'c arched one eyebrow, and stated his confusion: "I do not understand."

"When Jack got stuck on Edora two years ago, he gave up the hope of going home." Something in Daniel Jackson tensed. "He didn't believe we would try to get him back, whatever the cost. In thinking we would give up on him, _he_ gave up on _us_!"

And Teal'c understood. It hurt Daniel Jackson to be dismissed so lightly by O'Neill, and the child was a symbol of O'Neill's lack of faith in his friends.

"O'Neill has been left behind before."

"But not by us!" Daniel Jackson reminded them. His glasses didn't leaven the intensity of his expression one bit. "If we left him behind we either returned to get him or fully intended to return for him!"

"Daniel." Major Carter's voice cut through their friend's words. "Whatever the Colonel forgot while he was stuck on Edora, he has a daughter there, now." Her voice was steady, if sad. "He'll want to be a part of her life as she grows up."

"He can't just give this up, Sam!"

"I think that for the sake of his daughter, he could," she said. "You know how much his son meant to him – how much he loved Charlie. Do you think he'd give up a second chance to be a father now it's been presented to him?"

"This would be an opportunity for O'Neill to regain that, which he has lost." Much as he would miss his friend, Teal'c understood what might lead O'Neill to give up this fight. He did not agree with O'Neill's reasoning – after all, Teal'c's own son was growing up without his father there to teach him and train him as sons should be taught – but he could comprehend his friend's decision, and respect the choice that was made.

"He can't..." Daniel Jackson protested, but was gently cut off.

"Daniel." Major Carter held his gaze, blue eyes to blue eyes. "It's not up to us."

----

This time, the 'welcoming committee' consisted only of Captain Forrester and Laira, standing in the dappled sunlight of the woods. Laira's daughter – Daniel couldn't think of the child as Jack's, not yet – squirmed in her arms.

If Daniel stood a little closer to Sam than was necessary, well, that was his own choice. Besides, it looked like Sam could do with a little moral support – she was looking decidedly peaky in the sunlight, as if sleep had eluded her.

Truthfully, sleep had eluded Daniel, as well.

_We're going to lose him, aren't we, Sam?_

SG-1 had been Daniel's family for the last five years. They'd laughed and grieved, pushed each other away and forced themselves past each other's barriers. They'd supported each other and been there for each other, and hugged and teased and joked and comforted and...

...and because of Jack's stupid assumption that his friends wouldn't come back for him, Daniel was going to lose the completeness of that family. Oh, they'd still be friends – but Jack would have his own family who'd demand his time and his energy – and SG-1 would come second to that.

Jack went down the steps to his daughter and her mother, and took the girl from Laira's arms, saying something softly to the Edoran woman. As he turned back to his team, he missed the flash of possessive love in the mother's eyes as she looked upon him. Daniel grimaced. Whatever Laira had meant to Jack O'Neill during those three months, Jack had meant infinitely more to her.

"Guys," Jack said with a small smile, rapt in the child. "This is Mia..."

They remained where they stood, causing Laira to shift uncomfortably, and an expression of irritation to cross Jack's face.

Then, Sam moved. She walked as though through molasses, descending the stairs to stand before her CO and his daughter. One finger brushed past the baby's cheek. "Hey there, Mia."

A relieved expression crossed Jack's face. "This is Major Samantha Carter," he told the toddler, who gurgled and wrapped a hand firmly around Sam's proffered finger. "But I think she'll let you call her 'Sam'." A smile touched his lips and he glanced at his 2IC, who was looking down at the child. "If you've got any sense, you'll grow up as smart and... intelligent as she is."

"She's beautiful, sir."

"Well, of course she is, Carter," he replied, grinning. "She's my daughter."

They exchanged a glance of amusement before Teal'c came to stand before the child. The girl reached her free hand out to tug at the Jaffa's nose. Teal'c's expression was not visible from the Stargate steps, but Daniel could imagine the smile on the big man's face.

"She's your daughter all right, sir!" Sam murmured, softly to Jack, then glanced up at the fourth member of SG-1 who came down the stairs, but didn't approach the trio. Her eyes implored him to forgive and forget the issues that stood between him and Jack. Daniel ignored her.

Jack shifted so he could see Daniel, and Teal'c moved out of the way, leaving the space between the two men free for conversation – or argument. A shadow passed over Jack's face. "Daniel..."

"What, Jack?" Daniel wasn't giving an inch. The child might not be to blame for her father's sins, but Daniel doubted he'd ever be able to look at Mia and not think of how much it had hurt to know Jack didn't know Daniel as well as Daniel thought he had. A living, breathing reminder that Jack had forgotten his team. That Jack had forgotten _Daniel_.

"Daniel..."

"Yes?" Lifting his eyebrows in stubborn question, Daniel stood his ground, withholding his approval of the child and everything she represented.

"For crying out loud..."

"You betrayed us, Jack." In all of two years, he'd never said this to his friend. He'd never let Jack know just how much the Edoran incident had hurt. The words were bald and blunt, tinged with the bitterness of his emotions after Jack's return, when Daniel realised that his friend didn't think as much of his team as they thought of him. The memory made him harsh and ruthless. "You forgot the golden rule of our team. You forgot we don't leave our people behind, _Colonel_."

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c rumbled. "Should this not..."

"No, Teal'c," Daniel said, ignoring their eyes on him. "This should be said now."

"Now, as compared to two years ago when I got back from Edora?" Jack rapped out harshly. "Why didn't you give me a piece of your mind then, _Dr._ Jackson?"

So they were back to titles again: the brusque politeness of two men with nothing in common.

"When you got back from Edora, you were too busy playing 'I Spy' with Maybourne and Makepeace to be bothered listening to anything I said." That time was hard on them all. On top of dealing with Jack's lack of faith in them, SG-1 had been forced to cope with believing him 'gone rogue'. "Besides, which, you were too busy casting our friendship or lack of it ..."

"C'mon Daniel, you know that was a blind to throw Maybourne off the scent!" Jack hardly noticed as Sam extracted Mia from his arms. Laira hovered anxiously to one side, but Sam threw her a reassuring smile and juggled child and P-90 around until they were both comfortable.

"After that, I wasn't about to give you more ammunition with, which to shoot me down the next time you decided to infiltrate a smuggling ring, was I?"

Daniel knew he was being petty and small-minded. He could see the shock in Sam's face, the surprise in Teal'c's expression. They thought of him as so big-hearted, so open-minded, always the one to find the peaceful solution, the compromise. This open bitterness unleashed on Jack was not usual for him. But Daniel knew he needed to have this out between him and Jack at last – and so he held tight to his anger and his resentment as a child clutches his favourite toys.

Sam jiggled Mia in her arms and quietly interrupted whatever Jack had been about to say, "Laira, Mia, and I will be down in the village when you're done, Colonel, Daniel." The look she gave Teal'c indicated she expected him to mediate between the two angry men, and Daniel received a troubled glance before she turned her back on them and started on the path down to the village.

Daniel felt the anger drain from him in the face of her departure.

Of all of them, surely Sam had the greatest right to resent Mia? A child who represented not only her CO's lack of trust, but also everything she could not have of Jack O'Neill, and now would never have. Yet she could stand there and tell Jack his daughter was beautiful, take the child from him when the infant began to cry, and return to the village where he had forgotten his team mates and friends in the arms of a local woman.

_I'm sorry, Sam..._

Except that now Jack was spoiling for an argument, angry at the accusations Daniel had levelled at him. And Daniel no longer wanted a fight.

Daniel grimaced.

He'd dug his own grave.

Guess it was time to see if Jack was going to bury him in it.

**End of Part Two**


	3. Learning To Let Go

**Consequences **

**Part Three**

The Edoran was clearly uncomfortable at her presence, and distressed by the scene that had taken place before the Stargate. Sam couldn't blame her, although she kept the concern she felt inside her. Daniel and the Colonel would argue, they would yell at each other and accuse each other of every sin under the sun and then they would go off to sulk for a few hours before grudgingly making up again.

Sam made small talk to ease the Edoran's tension.

"You had...have a son, don't you?"

"Yes. Garan. He no longer lives under my roof. He has taken himself a wife."

"Naytha?"

The Edoran woman looked surprised, "Yes. How did you know?"

"When I was developing the technology to get through to your Stargate, I met her parents."

She'd been working on the particle accelerator, night and day, wearing herself down to the bone. Daniel hijacked her, first forcing her to get some sleep, and then insisting she take a day off. Arguing had availed her nothing – he'd forcibly dragged her through the Stargate to the world where the refugee Edorans were staying, announced her name, and told the people that she was the one who would be getting them home. She'd promptly been swamped by Edorans. Adults and children, thanking her, cursing her, asking her when they could return home...

It had given her a new perspective on the work she'd been doing. More than just the Colonel's return hinged on the particle accelerator succeeding.

A shy couple had approached her later on in the day and asked about their daughter. "She went with Garan – Laira's son – when the Fire Rain began falling. Colonel O'Neill went after them." More than anything else, what they'd wanted was reassurance that their daughter was alive. Reassurance that the Colonel was the kind of man who would not give up looking for two foolish children, and who possessed the resources to survive the fall of the Fire Rain.

She had been able to give them that much comfort.

And, in the end, she had managed to return them to their daughter.

Thinking of them, she reminded herself to find them among the villagers and say hello. To find the other people she had met that day and feel again the satisfaction of what she had done – not just for the Colonel, who had forgotten his team, but also for the people who had not forgotten their home.

Hopefully, they had not forgotten her, either.

They came to the end of the path from the Stargate, pausing on the main causeway along, which the houses stood. Then Laira directed Sam towards one end of the causeway, and she followed.

"How long have Garan and Naytha been married?" Mentally, Sam grimaced at the inanity of her conversation, but the words filled the silence between them. They were two women with nothing in common but the Colonel.

"Nearly a full turn of the seasons." Laira did not seem inclined to be talkative – at least with Sam. She eyed Mia, "If my daughter is too heavy..." Was there a possessive lilt on the pronoun? Perhaps. Or perhaps Sam was being paranoid.

"Oh, no, she's fine." Sam didn't know why she was so reluctant to let go of the toddler, only that it was a good feeling to have the baby in her arms, trusting and adorable. She'd missed out on the 'toddler' stage of her niece and nephew – that stage of their development had been during the period when Mark wasn't talking to her. And Mia seemed happy enough there as she fiddled with the flaps on Sam's vest, looking up at Sam from time to time as if to check she was allowed to play with the bits and pieces of material..

They stopped outside a house, presumably Laira's. Wooden, like all the structures, rough-hewn yet solid. Sam had a moment of heart-stopping panic: what if the Edoran woman asked her inside? She didn't really want to see where the Colonel had lived those three months; where he had loved this woman and given her this child.

Her fears were unfounded; the Edoran had no intent of inviting her in, any more than Sam had the desire to enter. "I should put her down inside the house." Laira reached for her daughter.

Mia didn't want to leave Sam. She wailed, her hands gripping firmly to the straps of Sam's pack, and Sam was forced to reclaim her as the toddler broke into crocodile tears. "It's okay, Laira," she said gently. "I can hold onto her for the time being."

"You are sure?"

"Yeah, it's no problem. I'll just be out here if you're worried."

"Very well." Laira seemed a little huffy, and Sam winced as the other woman went inside the house. It wouldn't be easy for Laira to accept that this time the Colonel didn't come as a stand-alone. He would come with three friends who weren't about to let him go gently.

She sighed, thinking of Daniel, spoiling for an argument with the Colonel. It wasn't going to be an easy time for any of them. And this return to Edora raised other unpleasant memories closely associated with Edora – such as the Stargate smuggling ring and the tense days thereafter. Well, they'd coped then, and they would cope now.

They had to. They were SG-1.

Glancing around for somewhere to sit, she seated herself down on a patch of grass and rested the baby on her knee. Small hands yanked at a waving strand of grass, uprooting it, and the toddler brandished the prize at her keeper with an entirely delightful grin.

"You're a real charmer," Sam murmured, hopelessly enchanted by this bundle of life and energy. "You know that? Just like your Daddy."

A weight pressed against her heart as she looked at Mia. One blink blurred her sight, but with a surreptitious glance around she brushed the blurriness from her eyes. It wasn't her right to feel this way, she told herself repeatedly as the toddler gurgled and poked the grass frond at her. The Colonel had made no promises either then or now, was in no way obligated to her beyond his command and whatever else he felt was due her as a friend.

It still hurt.

Mia tilted her head, and patted Sam's cheek with a declaration of: "Baa-aaa!"

Sam laughed in spite of herself. She rubbed one thumb over the girl's cheek and leaned forward to kiss the soft, smooth forehead. _I wish you'd been mine,_ she told the toddler silently. Regret ached in her briefly until she banished it. She was the Colonel's friend and would stay that way; his friendship was just as valuable as anything else he had to offer. Wasn't five years proof of that?

But, oh, it would be difficult.

Along the causeway, a crowd of small, determined figures were kicking up a small storm of dust, making their way towards her.

"Major Sam!" On the day Daniel had dragged her out to the refugee Edorans, she had met and made friends with several of the children. They were fascinated by the paleness of her colouring against their sun-tanned skin, and the news that she would be getting them home to Edora. "Fair day, Major Sam! You never came to visit!" The speaker was a sturdy boy of ten who scuffed at the ground near her. "Hey, you have Mia! Fair day, Mia!"

"I'm sorry I never visited, Tam," she said, smiling up at him, but feeling a little guilty. "It's been a busy time." And she'd had little desire to come back to Edora. Selfishly as it turned out. In the pain of those days after the Colonel's return, she'd almost forgotten the Edoran friends she'd made. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"How long will you be staying?" One of the other children demanded. "Will you come see our caves like Doctor Daniel?"

"Will you come swimming in the river?"

"You have to tell us _everything_ that's happened since we saw you!" Tam told her. "Doctor Daniel told us a little bit, but you have to tell us _everything_!"

Sam couldn't help a smile, thinking of _everything_ that had taken place in the last two years. Tam would be an old man before she got through telling him. Well, she didn't have anything else much to do except baby-sit Mia, so she might as well reacquaint herself with the children she'd met two years ago.

"Well," she said, "Where to begin..."

----

She was sitting amidst a crowd of children, with Mia tugging at her fatigues jacket and playing with the buttons. The Air Force Major was nowhere to be seen, just a woman in fatigues telling a story to spellbound children who leaned on her knees or squeezed in beside her in the grass, their huge eyes watching her face as she finished telling them about the replicators.

"Ooh!" One of the girls declared. "I hope they never come to Edora."

"Oh, I don't think they will," Jack drawled, lightly, aware of a slight squeezing in his chest as he came to stand on the edge of the 'storytelling session'. Then she looked up at him and the squeeze became a full-fledged iron grip. "We took care of them, didn't we, Carter?"

"Several times, sir."

The children began to get up, suddenly in the presence of an adult they didn't know. The shyer ones clustered behind Carter, while one of the bolder ones planted his feet and eyed Jack up and down. "You're Laira's man, aren't you?"

Carter looked down at Mia burbling happily away, and Jack cursed himself for the idiot he'd been. The consequence of forgetting that this team would never leave him behind was their situation now. A daughter for whom he was responsible, Daniel furious, Carter distant, and Teal'c...well, Jack didn't know how he was gonna face Teal'c in the end. How could he tell the Jaffa that it was okay to leave his son behind to fight the Goa'uld, when Jack was willing to give up the fight to bring up his daughter?

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill," he told the boy, neither confirming nor denying the child's statement.

The boy looked him up and down, about ten years of age, young, bold and brash. "You're the one Major Sam built the artickle sellaytor for."

"She built it to get you home, too, you know."

One shod foot scuffed at the grass, "Yeah." Then the boy looked up, ingenuously, "Do you have any stories?"

"Tam," Carter said a warning clear in her voice. The boy looked anxiously at her, and she shook her head at him, smiling. He grinned back shyly. Jack almost laughed. The boy had all the textbook signs of infatuation with Carter.

"Guess we should go back to the field," Tam murmured and nudged one of the other boys, "Bet I can beat you there!" He started off in a sprint that drew most of the other children away as Carter stood up, still balancing Mia in her arms.

"Major Sam," a soft voice said as a small hand tugged at Carter's sleeve. "Thank-you for telling us about the reppy-gators. Fair Day." And the girl followed her companions into the cloud of dust down the causeway.

"Maybe the Edorans should hire you as their babysitter," he told her, smiling slightly. "I see you made a few friends."

"Renewed a few old acquaintances," she corrected him, glancing up from Mia.

"And Mia's decided she likes you."

"Laira was going to put her down inside, but she didn't want to let go." The toddler looked up at Carter and smiled brilliantly, and Carter's lips curved in tender return.

Regret stabbed deeply. The picture of the two of them wouldn't have been all that far off from a traditional 'Madonna and child' portrayal, if you ignored the fact that the 'Madonna' was dressed in military fatigues and had a P-90 slung over her shoulder.

"You've got your Daddy's eyes, miss," Carter told Mia, then glanced over at him and blushed a little. "She's beautiful, sir."

"Yes." She was beautiful, too. Beautiful in the heart and mind as much as in the body. _This is Major Samantha Carter... If you've got any sense, you'll grow up as smart and beautiful as she is._ His courage had failed him in the end, and he'd substituted 'intelligent' for 'beautiful', but the sentiment had been there.

Carter held his gaze, "Sir? Did you and Daniel..."

Breath gusted out of him. "We sorted things out. Kinda." He thought of Daniel's weary replies to his angry demands – as if the energy that fuelled the initial fury had drained from the younger man, leaving him a hollow shell.

"'Kind of', sir?"

"We're...not really talking right now." Not after Daniel walked away and Jack stormed off down the path to the village.

Her disappointment was clear in her face. "Sir..."

"It'll sort itself out, Carter."

"Not if you're not talking to each other."

He gave her a very direct look, exasperated with her persistence, "Are you sure your first name isn't Jimmy?"

The flash of amusement on her face was dazzling and coveted. "Do I look like a Jimmy, sir?"

"No," he said quietly, "You're definitely not a Jimmy."

Silence stretched between them, much as it had on Apophis' ship with the field separating them and a wealth of reasons for him to go – and only one to stay. Then, a movement at the periphery of their vision caused them both to turn and behold Laira watching them, guardedly.

"Sir?" Sam gently extricated Mia from her arms and her pack straps, and offered his daughter to him.

His daughter.

He took Mia into his arms. "Carter?"

"I'll go looking for Daniel and Teal'c, sir. They're probably at the research station. Fair day, Laira."

She walked away, her hands coming up to steady her weapon at her chest, resting her arms on the weapon in a gesture that was as familiar to him as any of his own. Jack watched her leave. One finger was absently being pre-empted as a pacifier by the baby, while her father – her father! – took a deep breath and turned to Laira, finding her eyes upon him.

"What is it?"

----

The breeze whispered around them, warm with mixed scents of a farming life – fresh wheat, new-cut hay, ripe fruit from the orchards...

The scents were unfamiliar to Daniel. He knew the pungent aroma of bovine herds, musty rooms of books and papers, stale air in museum storage rooms or professorial offices, and the dusty scent of endless sand...but not this kind of agrarian life.

He sighed. This was Jack's future. He couldn't see Laira coming to Earth – the Edoran woman would be lost in the cement jungles of their planet. And Jack would never let his daughter grow up without him.

_Shit happens,_ he thought dully, _and this is the result._

"Major Carter," Teal'c asked quietly, "What will happen to SG-1 with O'Neill gone?"

Sam looked up from the notes she was scribbling on the test results the scientists had given her to look over. "I don't know, Teal'c. It will depend on a number of things." She dropped her pen to the ground and rested her chin in her hand and her elbow on her bent knee. "I don't think they're likely to split us up. We're a unique team as it is." There wasn't any pride in her statement, just simple acceptance. "The last time circumstances required the Colonel to leave SG-1, I'd only just received my promotion to major. It wasn't suitable for a newly promoted Major to take control of the flagship team for the SGC. Now..." she looked thoughtful. "It would depend on whether General Hammond would give me command of SG-1 or assign someone new to command." She winced, "Hopefully, this time, it'll be someone who can deal with us on a level similar to the Colonel."

Daniel didn't hide his grimace. Makepeace had been an exceptional soldier, or so he had been told by various stunned personnel after the 'Black-Market' Stargate scandal, but the man had not possessed the people skills to deal with the three 'non-standard' members of SG-1. "Would you like to take command of SG-1?"

She thought about that for a few seconds, "I'd prefer not to," she said at last, surprising both Daniel and Teal'c with her answer. Seeing their expressions, she hastened to explain. "It's not that I don't want my own command, guys. A year ago, shortly after the incident with...with the memory stamps on P3R-118, General Hammond offered me the command of SG-14. Captain Denison was transferring out and the General asked if I would take the command."

This was news to Daniel, and, looking at Teal'c, he gathered it was news to the Jaffa as well. Neither Jack, nor Sam had said anything regarding the offer to either of them. "Why didn't you take it?"

Sam hesitated, "I had...issues I needed to get out of the way," she said at last. She didn't elaborate on what the issues were, although they could guess the nature of them. "Leaving the team at that time would have been...escapism. I wouldn't have been dealing with the problem, just running away from it." And to Sam Carter, that would have been unacceptable.

"But I assume you've dealt with it since then, right?" Daniel offered, careful to remain non-specific about the 'problem'. "So why wouldn't you take the command of SG-1, now?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't, Daniel, just that I'd prefer not to." Seeing the arch of Teal'c's eyebrow, she hastened to clarify: "I'm not just a Major in the Air Force, I'm also an astrophysicist. Presently, in SG-1, I get to balance those two sides of me. If I was commanding the team, I wouldn't be allowed that kind of freedom to indulge my interest in science and technology off-world. But if it came down to me or someone unsuited to commanding us as a team, I'd do it."

"You assume that O'Neill would give up command of SG-1," Teal'c pointed out.

"I don't see how he'd do anything else, Teal'c. The kind of danger SG-1 goes into..."

"...and gets out of..." Daniel interposed, earning him a wry smile from Sam.

"...isn't something that he'd want to risk knowing Mia is here on Edora."

The omission of the Edoran woman brought up another question that had been bothering Daniel. "Why didn't Laira come forward before now? It's been two years since Jack was last on Edora – we've had the research station up during most of that time. Mining teams have been sent through to collect naquadah. It would have been so easy for her to get a message through to Earth with the reports or with personnel. Let Jack know he had a kid before he gets himself killed by the Goa'uld."

"She may have wished to keep the child for herself, Daniel Jackson."

"I don't think so." Daniel thought of the hungry look in the Edoran woman's eyes that morning. Laira of Edora had not forgotten the man who briefly shared her house and her bed, even if he had not remembered her so thoroughly or fondly. "She still loves him. At least, she loves who she thinks he is." He grimaced. There was a lot more to Jack O'Neill than Laira would have seen, even during his three months of exile. "If Mia really was Jack's daughter, Laira would have let him know long before this."

Sam frowned, "Daniel, she simply might have been afraid to burden the Colonel with the knowledge he left her pregnant." There was the slightest of catches in her voice, but nobody but a very close friend or watchful observer would have heard it. "Why she left it for two years doesn't matter. Only that the Colonel found out about Mia in the end."

"I just think it's a little bit suspicious..."

"Daniel, please." With her eyes covered by the sunglasses, it was hard to see her expression, but her lips pressed tightly together. He bit his lip and didn't say anything more on the topic.

They talked of other matters: SGC gossip, the naquadah experiments going on at the research station. Daniel mimicked Dr. Vernon's accent and Sam swatted at him, laughing, while Teal'c's mouth curved and his eyebrows rose.

"We should return to the Stargate," Teal'c reminded them as the afternoon wore on.

Daniel stood up and brushed himself off, then helped Sam pick up her papers. Looking at her face as he offered them back, he saw the struggle of the last day and cursed himself for being an unfeeling idiot twice in a day. "Sam..."

"Teal'c's right, Daniel," she said, taking the papers from him and turning away to follow Teal'c down the path to the research station in the valley below. "We're due at the Stargate in half an hour."

Talk about bottling things up! He followed her down to the research station without a word, while his mind tried to find something to say that would help.

Just short of the cleared ground around the building, he touched her arm. "Sam."

She turned, took her sunglasses off, and sighed. "Daniel, don't..."

"You don't have to face this alone, Sam." The first time Jack had returned from Edora, they'd taken comfort in the company of each other, both feeling the betrayal of their friend and team-mate stronger than they could bear alone. Now, more than ever, they'd need to rely on the ties that would be left to them once Jack was gone.

A sigh issued from her, very soft. "I know." She looked up at him, lifting her gaze from his collarbone to his face. A smile touched her face. "You don't have to face this alone, either, Daniel."

"I won't." He reached out one hand, and took hers, squeezing it. "Come over for dinner, tonight?" With other women, Daniel would have worried that it might be taken the wrong way. With Sam, he knew she understood that it was her presence he wanted, not her body.

"As long as it's not pizza."

"Will TV-dinner lasagne do instead? Teal'c seems to like them."

"Sounds good." They smiled at each other, friends in harmony.

"I hate to break up a tender moment," drawled Jack at his most charmingly sarcastic, "But you guys have a wormhole to catch."

They looked over at their CO, leaning against the building like he had all the time in the world. He looked back at them, eyebrows arched.

"'You guys'?" Daniel questioned.

A stillness settled on Jack's face. "I won't be coming back with you tonight. I'll be staying with my... with Mia and Laira."

So he couldn't call them his family. At least, not yet.

"General Hammond cleared this, sir?"

"Yes." He gave them a wry smile. "I'll still walk you to the Stargate, though."

Sam nodded, almost pausing by Jack, before she kept walking until she was out of sight around the corner of the station building.

They faced each other, reading the regrets in the other's face. At last, Daniel walked forward, his hand grasping the older man's shoulder at the same time as Jack gripped Daniel's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Jack." _Sorry for arguing with you. Sorry for taking my inadequacies out on you. Sorry for not dealing with this sooner rather than later._

"Me too, Daniel." And there was as much subtext in Jack's apology as there had been in his own.

Daniel tried to lighten the mood. "Guess I'll be 'Unca Danny', then?"

"I'll teach her to call you 'Unca Spacemonkey'," Jack replied, one corner of his mouth quirking.

"You do and I'll teach her how to insult you in a dozen different languages!"

"You wouldn't!"

Daniel grinned, "Try me."

Their banter carried them inside the station where Sam and Teal'c were putting on their packs and collecting their weapons.

The trudge back along the path to the Stargate was made in a considerably easier silence than their return the previous day.

Just before they reached the glade, Jack turned. "You guys are coming back tomorrow?" He asked, soft enough not to be heard by the people gathered at the Stargate, loud enough for them to hear.

Daniel answered for the three of them. "Guess so."

"We're gonna need to talk about this." And with a gesture of the hand, he indicated the whole Edora situation.

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

In the glade, Daniel noted there were a few more people than were supposed to be going back through to Earth. Several of them were Edorans. A small figure launched himself at Sam and blurted: "Mama wants you to stay with us for dinner, Major Sam!"

An Edoran woman approached Sam, her dark hair plaited in long braids. "We understand that you have many duties, Sam, but we would love to have your presence with us this evening. You could stay with us over the night if that is not a problem with your General."

"I have no problem with that, Piera." Sam glanced over at the assembled SG-12, already dialling up the wormhole, and her team mates. "But I'd have to request permission from the General first. If they're expecting me back..."

"You could send a message through the open wormhole after the others have gone through," Jack offered. "Don't see why Hammond would have a problem with it."

SG-12 went through the now-opened wormhole, and shortly after, Sam had her permission to remain for the night. She turned to Daniel, apologetic: "I'll have to renege on the dinner, Daniel."

Daniel grinned at her to show his feelings weren't hurt. "You've broken my heart, Sam. You owe me one."

"See ya tomorrow, guys. Hey, Teal'c!" Jack called to the Jaffa standing by the Stargate's rippling blue surface, "Make sure he doesn't stay up all night looking at those rocks SG-4 brought back, hey?"

"I will endeavour to ensure Daniel Jackson gets some sleep tonight, O'Neill." Teal'c inclined his head, and stepped through the event horizon.

Daniel rolled his eyes, then stepped through the wormhole back to Earth.

**End of Part Three**


	4. Dinner and Decisions

**Consequences **

**Part Four**

Dinner was not with Laira and the Colonel.

Sam was intensely relieved.

In the two years since the return of the Edorans, the society had more or less polarized between those who had been caught off-world during the meteor shower, and those who had been left on-world. The off-worlders, having seen a different level of lifestyle and the assistance rendered to them by the SGC, had adopted new methods and low-level machines to make their lives a little easier. The on-worlders, having struggled through summer only to have their friends and family abruptly returned to them with tales of better things, were resentful of the 'easy life' the others had lived while they slaved away to produce enough food to survive the winter.

"It is not as bad as it was just after we returned," Piera explained to Sam as she placed the dishes on the table. "Some things have made it easier to deal with those who endured the Fire-Rain. The marriage of Garan and Naytha helped to ease some of the breach. The others more readily accept Naytha's parents and their friends now. And the children do not care either way." She glanced fondly at Tam and his friends, who sat at the table, swinging their legs. "Altan, would you give thanks for our meal?"

Piera's husband nodded and the gathered people – a dozen of Altan and Piera's friends and their children – bowed their heads. Sam copied them and listened to Altan's short 'grace'. "Ancestors, we thank you for the lives we live today, and the bounty of this planet that gives us this meal. Continue to watch over us and our people and be it so always."

As they ate, the conversation was a mix of all kinds of bits and pieces; gossip from the village, news about the harvest, and the busy chatter of the children. Sam kept one ear open to the general conversation, even as she was speaking with Altan and Piera about the changes wrought on Edora since the meteor shower.

"Your friend had a big impact on Paynan," Altan said cheerfully. "Time was when it was all you could do to even suggest a new way of doing something. Now he listens, and sometimes he'll even use it himself!"

"Well, Jack certainly had a big impact on Laira," another woman commented dryly. "She was eager enough to offer him refuge in her house."

"_And_ a refuge in her bed," a man added, spitefully. Someone shushed him, glancing anxiously at Sam.

Mentally grimacing, Sam continued to eat. It was fairly obvious that the Colonel's time here with Laira was common gossip among the Edoran's – witness Tam's reference to Colonel O'Neill as 'Laira's man'.

Catching Sam's glance, the woman who had spoken explained the context of her words. "I was one of those who remained behind during the Fire Rain. Your friend worked very hard alongside us to help us provide the food."

"It was his skin as much as yours, Diralle," someone pointed out, dour and distasteful.

"He did not belong among us," Diralle replied stoutly. "That was as plain as the nose on your face. Poor man. He returned from the valley where the Stone Circle had been in great distress."

Sam was rapidly losing her appetite given the way the conversation was going. Earlier that day, she'd had no desire to hear about the Colonel's time on Edora; that resolution remained. However, she was caught. As a guest in this house, she had no control over the direction of the talk.

"The Stargate had been his life for many years," Piera stated. "He had lost his life, his friends, and his world in one day. Those of us who were taken to Earth and from there to the other planet had each other and the knowledge that Sam..." she indicated her guest with a smile, "...was working on a solution. Colonel O'Neill had no such assurance. Little wonder he was distressed." She turned to Sam. "You have travelled through the Stargate many times, have you not, Sam?"

"Yes. Our superiors send us through the Stargate to discover other worlds and civilisations to assist in a war we are fighting."

"Against the Goa'uld?"

"Yes."

"The war continues?"

She nodded, a little wearily, thinking of the endless fight against the parasites that hungered for dominion of the galaxy. As of today, there was one less soldier who would fight that war – a good man, and a tired one. He'd earned his retirement, even if the battle would be harder without his presence.

Nevertheless, Sam kept her thoughts to herself, and told them what she could about the Goa'uld as they finished their dinner.

In a little while, the children appeared around her and demanded another story. The parents objected, but the children insisted, and Sam was happy to oblige.

So she told a tale of two sets of people living in one city. The city-dwellers lived above ground in a beautiful city, while the workers lived under the city and slaved away to make the city beautiful, while being unaware of its existence. Among the workers were four people who had this feeling there was more – this sense that there was something that drew them all together. With the help of a woman who knew of both the city above and the slaves below, they pieced together the puzzle and led a revolt against the man who administrated both city and slave-city. In the end, the slaves were freed, and given their own land where they could live in the sunlight beneath an open sky. The four people went back to their own land and lived happily ever after.

As she finished, Sam reflected on the liberties she'd taken with the story; but then, this was a story for the children. The actual reality wasn't nearly so nicely finished-off.

"I like that story," Tam declared, cuddled up against Sam. "Tell us another one!" Instantly a clamour arose from the other children.

"No more stories," Altan told him firmly. "I think it is time for you to be in bed, my son."

Children groaned as parents began collecting them and leaving. Sam kissed soft cheeks, and had several rather damp smudges on her cheek by the end of the farewells. Tam protested vocally and insisted on several kisses and hugs from Sam before he allowed his father to put him to bed.

With the people gone from the house, Sam finally let the strain of the day descend upon her. She felt drained and exhausted. Numb and grey, as she had in the days after the last return from Edora. Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, and Cassie had gotten her through that period, as well as the subsequent time when the Colonel had been working undercover to expose Maybourne and Makepeace.

Piera began to clean up the pottery dishes, refusing Sam's help. "You are a guest. It would not be right." She dipped the plates in heated water, using a brush of reeds to clean the food that stuck to the plate's rough surface. "So did Jonah, Tor, Carlin, and Thera indeed live happily ever after, Sam?" Her question indicated that she saw more in the story than just a tale for the children.

"Life is not a story, Piera," Sam replied. "It goes on, and things change. People come and people go."

"And your friend has chosen to go, has he not?"

"He hasn't told us yet, but he'll probably be staying here."

"Ah, well." Sympathy touched Piera's voice, "It is good of him to decide to stay with Laira. She has been lonely for many seasons since Garan's father died."

Sam grimaced. "Under the circumstances, Piera, I think there is a little less altruism in the Colonel's motives than...than keeping a lonely woman company." How did she manage to get back on this topic again?

Piera turned from the sink, frowning in bewilderment as her hand dripped water to the floor. "I do not understand what you mean, Sam."

"Well, his daughter..." Sam trailed off at the expression on the Edoran woman's face. "What is it?"

"Mia is not your friend's daughter, Sam."

The words didn't penetrate her brain at first, and once they did, a million questions poured out, swimming in a million emotions. Shock, relief, joy, and sudden horror prompted her stunned request for confirmation. Her voice was wooden and her words were slow, like wading through treacle or molasses. "Mia is not...?"

"Mia is the daughter of Milar – do you remember Milar from that day you visited?" Sam did. "Milar died in childbirth after we returned – Mia was conceived while we were away from Edora. When she died, Laira took over care of the child – and, I think, Milar's husband. I do not know if there was anything more between them, but Milar's husband never recovered from the loss and died less than a season later." The dark eyes stared at Sam in the candlelight. "You did not know this?"

"No," Sam said weakly. "We thought... It was assumed..." _Get a grip on yourself, Sam!_ "The Colonel believes Mia to be his daughter and Laira's."

"Then Laira has lied to him," Piera said, her voice clear and low and her expression regretful. "Or she has let him believe what is not true."

"She said Mia was her daughter," Sam recalled, trying to think of a moment when Laira had explicitly stated that Mia was the Colonel's daughter. There had been no such moment to the other members of SG-1, but the assumption of Mia's paternity had been obvious to them, and doubtless the Colonel had confirmed it the moment he and Laira had a moment's peace.

"Sam, Mia _is_ her daughter; Laira formally adopted her before the village elders. In all respects, save that of birth, Laira is Mia's mother." Turning back to her work, Piera sighed, "It must be that she referred to Mia as her daughter, and the age was right for your friend to assume she was his."

"And she didn't correct him," Sam murmured. She recalled Daniel's comment earlier that afternoon, _If Mia really was Jack's daughter, Laira would have let him know long before this._

Still, she was puzzled. "Someone would have mentioned it sooner or later. The Colonel would have found out then..."

"Perhaps by then Laira planned to truly be carrying his child," Piera suggested, dryly. "Although surely she could see that a man like your friend would be furious at such a deception." Drying her hands on a towel, she sat down opposite Sam at the table. "You must understand, Sam; Laira is not a conniving woman – merely an uncertain one. She is a rare and thoughtful leader to our people, and always has been. But her strength as a leader has been grounded by the men in her life: her father, her husband, her son, and your friend." A faintly mischievous smile crossed her face. "And your friend is certainly the kind of man who would inspire covetousness in a woman!"

In spite of herself, Sam's mouth pulled up at one corner in a self-mocking smile. Yes, she understood the attraction of Jack O'Neill. Only too well.

"So will you tell him the truth?" Piera asked softly.

"I...don't know." There was more at stake here than mere truth and lies, and she wanted to be able to think it through.

One rough-palmed hand patted her arm. "You will make the right decision, Sam. I am sure of it."

The confidence the Edoran put in her assessment and evaluation abilities was both comforting and terrifying. "Thanks for the pep talk," Sam told her friend wryly.

"'Pep talk'?" Piera laughed at the term. "What is a 'pep talk'?"

Sam explained the concept of sport and coaching and 'pep talks', and in a little while Altan joined them and listened. The Edorans were amazed at the things the people of Earth did for entertainment, and Sam invited them to come to Earth during Edora's winter and attend a football game – if the General could authorise it. They agreed, laughing at the idea of going to Earth for a visit: "...like going down the causeway to visit Paynan," Altan said, his rich voice amused.

The conversation began to be punctuated by yawns from all three, and at length they decided to retire for the night.

As they prepared to sleep, Altan offered Sam their bed. She refused.

"The floor will be fine," she told them firmly. "I've slept on worse." They protested, but she over-rode their protests and insisted they keep their bed.

The wooden floor was no less comfortable than some of the planets SG-1 had travelled to; but Sam couldn't sleep. Her mind kept flitting back to the Colonel's situation with Laira and the child who was both the cause for the situation and its possible resolution.

Tired, but unable to sleep, she sat up. She put on her boots as silently as possible and walked out into the deep blue night.

The lights were out in most of the houses, including Laira's, and as Sam walked past it, Piera's words echoed in her head._ Perhaps by then Laira planned to be truly carrying his child..._ Was the Colonel sharing the Edoran woman's bed even now? The thought spurred her into a desperate sprint down the causeway.

She ran past the houses, through the fields, and out onto the pier that jutted into the dark, still waters of the lake. At the end of the pier, she sat down, wrapping her arms around one of the posts for support as she gasped for her breath. The run hadn't been hard, but what she was running from...

What she was running from she'd eventually have to turn and face. If not today, then another day. Sam knew that. She just didn't want to face it now. Not now.

Finally managing to calm herself and clear her mind, she contemplated the evening's revelation.

_Mia is not your friend's daughter, Sam._

Give Laira the benefit of the doubt, at least. She had probably intended to bring up Mia as her own, perhaps indulge in the fantasy that Mia was the Colonel's daughter. Then SG-12 spotted her and the child, did some mental calculations, and called the Colonel to Edora to let him know the woman from whom he had taken comfort during his confinement on the planet had a child who was of the correct age and colouring to be his. And Laira, faced with the prospect of having that which she previously thought she could never touch, had let them believe the lie.

To tell, or not to tell; that was the question.

It should have been simple to answer.

Uncertainty gnawed at her and she sighed. This afternoon, sitting in the grass with Mia, it had seemed so easy. Her CO had a child he would never abandon and for whom he would resign his commission and retire. Emotionally, it wasn't an easy thing to accept, for her or Daniel, because it brought up old wounds that they hadn't dealt with, only covered over. Whatever else, Sam knew the choice the Colonel would make would be the right one by his daughter. They would struggle on without him and he would bring up Mia as he'd longed to do.

That was this afternoon.

After tonight...

Yes, Sam could tell the Colonel that Laira had deceived him; tell him Mia, cute as a button, was not the second chance he had yearned after for so many years – but what would that do to him? He'd lost one child – was she to be the means by which he lost another? Or at least the messenger?

He'd discover it eventually, she knew. It was just a matter of time before the truth was revealed; but while the news of Mia had been uncomfortable for her CO, Sam had also seen the tiredness in his eyes – a tiredness she'd witnessed many times in the last few months. The fight with the Goa'uld seemed endless, and five years was a long time to fight a war that sometimes seemed so hopeless. This was his chance to retire with a reason people couldn't fault – although the day the Colonel seriously began caring what people said about him would be a strange day indeed.

Laira and Mia could give him what he had lost over six years ago: a family. Not a family to take the place of Sara and Charlie, but to return to him the sense of belonging, of being part of a family unit. His team was an approximation for his need to belong – his need for refuge – but at the end of the day, the Colonel still went home to his empty house and slept in a bed without someone beside him.

The Colonel, with the pain of age and brutal experience, needed that kind of refuge, as the others of his team did not. Someone who could heal the scars in him and shelter him from the storms that still cropped up in his life. There had been nobody there for him in that way for nearly six years and although he could survive without such support, drawing on the strength and closeness of his team, Sam knew he would be the better for having it.

Wasn't this situation an answer to his need even if it was based on a lie?

It was a conundrum with no simple solution.

Between the truth and his happiness, there _was_ no simple solution.

_You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free_. She didn't know where it came from, but she didn't feel very free now. She felt shackled – caught between two choices and uncertain of, which way to turn.

Shifting a little, the rough wood of the pylon scraped at her cheek. Trying to find a comfortable position, Sam laid on her back on the coarse planking and stared up at the sky, an endless velvet darkness spattered by tiny glowing stars.

Those stars blurred above her and she closed her eyes.

What should she do?

She had no idea.

It haunted her.

Suddenly, there were voices talking over her head. Familiar voices holding a discussion in normal tones.

With her eyes still shut, she frowned. This was a strange dream.

"...out here all night?"

"At least long enough to fall asleep."

"O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, I believe that your voices have awakened her."

Cautiously, she opened one eye and saw blue sky overhead, with three darker-outlined figures in standing over her in the sunlight, the dirt-encrusted toes of their boots surrounding her head on all sides.

"Ah, the sleeping beauty awakens! Carter, you were supposed to wait for Daniel to kiss ya..."

Daniel glanced at the Colonel with exasperation.

"Major Carter, would it not have been more comfortable inside?"

"Maybe she had a fight with the Edorans," the Colonel offered.

Sam blinked, trying to make sense of the situation. She'd fallen asleep on the pier? Night had turned to day in what seemed like no time at all and her consciousness tried to make up the lack.

"Jack, I don't think she's quite awake yet."

A booted toe gently nudged her shoulder, "Maybe if we roll her into the lake..."

"I'd prefer that you didn't, sir," she sighed, rubbing at her eyes. She'd fallen asleep without coming to a decision about what to tell the Colonel. She frowned as she tilted her head to observe Daniel and Teal'c. "You guys are back early."

"Yeah," Daniel glanced at Jack. "Well, we've got quite a bit to discuss...and we thought it should be sorted out as soon as possible. General Hammond's given us until lunch to report back."

"Basically, we need to talk," the Colonel said quietly.

And that was that.

**End of Part Four**


	5. Changes

**Consequences**

**Part Five**

He'd debated what he should do with himself since the moment he saw Mia in Laira's arms.

Stay with his team, or stay with Mia?

His team sat on the end of the pier; Teal'c sitting proudly upright, Daniel curled up over his knees, and Carter leaning against the pylon – almost hugging it, really. He observed her a moment longer than the other two, glancing away when she returned his gaze.

"As you've probably guessed, the situation with Mia changes a lot of things," he said, unable to meet their eyes. Staring down gave him the view of the rough wooden planks, but it was easier to look at the planks than at the earnest expression of Daniel, the unruffled certainty on Teal'c's face, or the masking calm he knew he'd see in Carter's eyes. "It means I'm a father..."_ A father again. And this time I'll do a better job – I swear!_ "...with responsibilities to Mia." His daughter. The daughter Laira hadn't told him about – had been willing to bring up without him there. "I can't... I _won't_ avoid them."

As their CO, he didn't have to explain his reasons. As their friend, he did. He owed them that.

"Charlie..." his voice husked a little as he thought of the bright-eyed child, so full of mischief and energy. The son he had loved with all his heart and soul. "Charlie grew up with a father who was usually absent. Home today, out somewhere else tomorrow. And every time I walked away from home, neither of us knew if we'd see each other again. I won't do that to Mia." He looked up at them, met Daniel's understanding and flinched away from it. "So...I'll be leaving SG-1."

The words hung in the air between them, the death knell of the last five years they'd been a team. A painful concluding statement to everything that they'd done together since the inception of the SGC. He'd miss them – but his daughter needed him.

He didn't mention Laira. He was grateful to her for making his time on Edora bearable, grateful to her for Mia, but he would just as soon not be tied to this planet and to her. Shameful as it was, Laira had been comfort, a way out of the endless loneliness that surrounded him during that period. From a different world and a different way of life, few had been willing to accept him, seeing him as an interloper – the reason they were without the rest of their people. Laira had accepted him, helped him, and eased the pain of having believed he'd lost even more people he cared about. Back then, given time enough, he would have loved her as she deserved.

Not anymore.

Two years had changed him – had changed things _in_ him, even if things on Edora had remained the same in that time.

Carter stared at her hands as if they were the most fascinating objects in the world. "But you won't be retiring, sir?" She'd heard what he'd said and what he hadn't. God, he'd miss her.

He'd miss _them_.

"No. Not straight away. I spoke with Hammond...he wants me to stay on at the SGC as a consultant rather than as an active team member. When they need me, they'll call me up."

"So we won't be losing you entirely?"

"You won't be losing me at all," Jack informed Daniel.

"That is good to hear, O'Neill," Teal'c stated. "General Hammond will appreciate your continued presence around the base."

He cracked a grin at the big man: "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Teal'c,"

Only Carter remained silent, continuing to inspect her hands. Jack wished she'd say something – _anything_! Did she hate him for Laira and Mia? Did she despise him for giving up the fight against the Goa'uld for something as small and insignificant as a single child? Of them all, he expected Carter to be the one who understood why he was doing this: both military and human reasons – and to be the least forgiving.

At last she raised her head and found him looking at her. A smile touched her lips, stealing over the features like a new day. "I'm glad you'll still be working with us, sir."

Her words were sincere enough, but he could tell she had reservations. Exactly what reservations, Jack didn't know and was afraid to find out. Two years ago, she'd been his team-mate, his second-in-command, and his friend. Now...now he had no idea what they were to each other. She was still 'all of the above' to him, but she was also something else that they'd never expressed or explored.

"I don't suppose General Hammond said anything about who would be replacing you? Or about who'd be commanding us?" Daniel's eyes flickered briefly to Sam. No prizes for guessing Daniel's train of thought.

"Not yet. For crying out loud, Daniel, I only informed him about the situation two days ago! We discussed my options: retirement, transferral, and the timeframe of my departure from SG-1."

"Which would be?"

"Probably after the next mission," he told them, studying their faces one by one, reading their reactions. "Hammond figured we needed a break after the last couple of months – the business with Anubis and the Tok'ra and everything. He was gonna give us a month of leave anyway, so now it'll be a combination of winding down, finding a new member, and easing him – or her – into the team." Jack saw Daniel's mouth open again, and held up his hands, "Daniel, I don't _know_ what Hammond's going to do about the command situation – you just gotta trust he learned from the business with Makepeace."

It would take a more flexible commanding officer than Makepeace had been to deal effectively with Daniel. Sometimes, even Jack found himself surprised he'd survived five years of 'commanding' the younger man. A civilian Daniel Jackson might be, but nobody ever said the military had the monopoly on people with souls of steel. If Daniel didn't want to move, then odds were that he wouldn't – or he'd find a way to go around it. And the women on the base thought Dr. Jackson was such a sweet, easy-going guy! They'd obviously never tried to argue him out of a pet moral stand before.

"All right, Jack," Daniel sighed, but smiling.

Whatever his issues with Daniel, Jack was glad they'd sorted them out this morning while looking for Carter. He'd had no idea Daniel felt so strongly about his time on Edora. The accusations had been uncomfortable – all the more because they were frighteningly accurate. Jack _had_ betrayed the trust of his team – twice in less than a month. The insult of the undercover Stargate operation had been piled on the injury of his lack of faith in his team's abilities and determination – whatever the reasons behind both situations, and the scars still ached in Daniel.

On the off-chance Teal'c had similarly managed to keep some resentment under wraps – the Jaffa brought new meaning to the term 'poker face' – Jack had quizzed his friend this morning. The outcome of that 'little chat' comforted him a bit. Teal'c hadn't felt as intensely as Daniel – but then, Teal'c was a different person and personality than Daniel. He might have been a little disconcerted by the ease with, which Jack had decided his team wasn't coming back for him, but Teal'c had let go of any bitterness he felt.

Which left Carter.

Jack had almost no idea how she felt about Edora first time around – tired, perhaps? The days after his return from Edora were a hazed blur. He'd forced himself to focus on the upcoming mission to the exclusion of his team. Oh, he'd watched as Daniel prepared the thing for presentation to the Tollans, even if the younger man was a bit reserved. Teal'c was frequently around him - probably reassuring himself that the time spent on Edora hadn't done anything to his friend and comrade. But Carter was rarely seen around the base.

Jack had heard the gossip of course. Carter had worn herself to the bone working on the particle accelerator – night and day, week in week out. There were gleeful whispers that she wouldn't have done it for anyone else – only for Colonel O'Neill; but other voices snorted in disdain and pointed out that even if the Colonel wasn't stuck on Edora there were still two hundred Edorans who wanted to go back home – and everyone knew Major Carter thrived on a challenge.

One thing was sure, after Jack returned, both Fraiser and Hammond had declared that if they saw Carter anywhere in the _vicinity_ of the mountain complex, she'd be tied down in the brig until she'd gotten enough sleep to satisfy them. Daniel checked up on her daily – it was obviously something he'd become accustomed to doing in Jack's absence – and reported back to Hammond, Fraiser, Teal'c, and Jack.

When Jack finally saw her again – the day before the Tollan mission, she was her usual polite self. There was nothing out of place, although she didn't seem to be holding his gaze. He'd had no idea why, and hadn't been in a mood to ask, only too aware of the undercover operation beginning the next day and how he'd need all his resources to deal with that.

Now, she was discovering the fascination of her hands, refusing to look up from them.

No hints, then.

He'd talk to her afterwards, after this. There were some things he had to say to her, now that it didn't matter whether they were said or not.

"That's the basics," he said quietly, still watching her. "It'll be worked out in the next couple of weeks. Details, small stuff like that." Silence. "Look, I didn't get a lot of choice in being stuck here last time...and I don't have a lot of choice this time." And that was as close to saying how much he regretted it ending this way. "My daughter needs me."

Daniel looked over at him, "We understand, Jack."

"I also understand, O'Neill." Teal'c didn't agree with Jack's decision, as the Jaffa had informed him this morning, but he comprehended what drove Jack to bring up his daughter.

Carter just nodded. "What will you do on Edora, sir?"

"Farm, I suppose." He managed a smile for her, "I did it for three months and I wasn't that bad..."

Her return smile was wry, "I never figured you as the green thumb type, Colonel." She knew well enough that any plants he ever had died within a month.

"Neither did I, Carter. Guess I'll be learning."

"You're coming back with us tonight, though?" Daniel asked hopefully. "I mean, you're not going to be moving here immediately?"

"Yeah, I'm coming back. It'll take a few days to get everything on Earth sorted out..." He grimaced. "You know how much paperwork is required when we lose our equipment on a mission? Do you have any idea about how much _more_ paperwork is required to apply for offworld living status?"

"Less than would be required for an alien living on Earth, O'Neill," Teal'c stated with a quirk to his mouth.

Jack mock-glared at him. "Steal my thunder, why dontcha, Teal'c?"

"You're the first person to apply for off-world living status, sir. There _are_ no forms."

"Yet. Hammond was thinking about developing an off-world training base so we can run the test simulations without interrupting the general running of the SGC. Trust me, Carter, the bureaucracy is moving with the times." He clapped his hands together, "Look, why don't we do pizza and videos at my house, tonight?" Things were moving so fast now – changing so fast. Jack wanted to spend a little more time with his team before everything he'd known vanished. He'd miss them. "You can help me clean up my place."

"Pizza and videos sound good." Daniel got up, stretching his legs. "You can do your own cleaning, though!" He grinned and Jack grinned back. "Look, Hammond is expecting either us or a report by midday, which is it gonna be?"

"Us," Jack told him. He couldn't hide on this planet any longer, hiding his face from the SGC and the news that would have spread through the levels of Cheyenne Mountain like an infectious disease. He'd made his mistakes, and now the time had come to live with it. "I have to tell Laira what's happening," he said. Like checking in with the wife before going down to the bar for a drink with the boys. Jack hid his grimace. Such a thought wasn't fair to Laira. "I'll meet you down at the station in an hour before midday. Okay?"

The others nodded and got up from their positions.

Carter moved more slowly than the others, clearly still stiff from her night sleeping on the planks. Jack watched her surreptitiously. In spite of her apparent acquiescence to the situation, something was still gnawing at her. He'd been the CO of this woman for five years, and he knew the habits that marked her moods. Something didn't sit right with her.

"Major Carter? Will you be returning to the village with O'Neill?"

She was leaning against the post, doing her morning stretch exercises. "Yes. I should apologise to Altan and Piera for vanishing from their hospitality in the middle of the night." A smile crossed her face, "And Tam probably wants another story."

Jack thought of the boy who had faced him down the previous day, and grinned.

"Uh, I don't think you have to worry about that, Sam. Tam was waiting for us in the Stargate glade when we arrived this morning," Daniel commented, "He wanted to know what kind of stories Teal'c told his children."

"I promised him the tale of Fare'ki and the _mivv'kas_," Teal'c informed his friends. "Rya'c has many times asked for that story to be told as he lay down to sleep – it is one of his favourites."

Jack didn't ask who Fare'ki was, or what a _mivv'kas_ was. In five years, Teal'c would sometimes come up with the oddest bits and pieces about family life among the Chulakian Jaffa. "That's quite a career change," he drawled, as he started along the path. "From First Prime to Children's Storyteller."

The Jaffa's expression grew visibly amused, as he drew alongside Jack. "O'Neill, once you have moved to Edora, these children will look to you as their source of information about the galaxy and the worlds beyond. I believe they will be asking you for many tales of your adventures."

Behind them, Daniel gave a shout of laughter. "You'll be telling stories every night of the year, Jack!"

"Peachy," he commented dryly. "I'll have to make sure I end up as the handsome hero in all of them."

They started back along the path to the village, and at the fork, which led to the research station, Teal'c and Daniel headed off, while Carter and he followed the road that led down to the collection of houses below.

Jack walked beside her in silence until he was sure Daniel and Teal'c were out of earshot. Then he stopped and caught her shoulder. "Carter."

She turned to face him. "Sir?"

"When I told Daniel I didn't know who Hammond had in mind to replace me, I...kinda didn't tell the whole truth." She didn't answer, just waited for him to continue. There was mixed hope and fear in her eyes: So Carter _did_ want her own command, whatever she said otherwise. "Hammond asked me if I thought you were ready for command of SG-1. I told him you were more than ready."

A little smile touched her lips, "Thank-you, sir."

"Truthfully, you should have had your own command months ago," he told her, holding her gaze with his own. "I...I wanted to keep us together." For more reasons than because SG-1 was a good team, but he didn't need to say that – she understood. "Carter..."

She recognised the tone of voice and began to back away from the conversation, although their physical positions didn't change an inch, "Sir, I don't think this is the time or place..."

Exasperation made him sharper than he intended. "It's never the time or place, Carter. If not now, when? Look, I know this whole thing with Laira is difficult and I'm sorry..."

"It's not Laira," she said steadily. Her expression was troubled, but she was telling the truth. It wasn't the situation with Laira that was causing her state of mind, but something else. He felt a jab of disappointment – couldn't she at least feel a little bit jealous? What was disturbing her, anyway? "And there's nothing to apologise for, sir..."

Her denial angered him: "Yes, Carter. There _is_ something to apologise for. Maybe not for...anything between us...but for forgetting that you guys would never leave me behind." And a little part of him wanted her to feel as helpless and frustrated by this situation as he did.

"Apology accepted."

He scrubbed one hand through his hair, bitterly. "And just because we've never spoken about us doesn't mean there's nothing! Carter, I swore the business with the za'tarc testing would be kept in the room, that it wouldn't change anything..."

"Something like that changes everything," she replied steadily. "Just like the situation we're in now."

Yes. Like their situation now.

Jack was trapped and he knew it. Trapped on Edora, trapped by Mia, trapped by Laira.

Carter took a deep breath. "This 'retirement' was not entirely of your choosing, sir, and I know that. We never spoke about...those things because it wasn't the time or place to speak of them. It still isn't, and now it probably never will be."

Under the quiet calm of her voice, there was a soft catching note, and Jack turned from the meadows around them into her eyes and saw the regret there.

It took his breath away.

They stood there in the morning sunlight of another planet, less than two feet away from each other, looking into the other's face. Whatever was between them, unspoken and unallowed, would remain unspoken and unallowed forever now. That was the way things were and the way they had to be.

Of its own accord, one hand reached for her shoulder, then changed its direction to lift up and brush by her cheek. "Sam." For a wonder she didn't flinch from him, and there was no distress in her expression, only the steady, slightly sad gaze of her blue eyes.

_I care about you more than I'm supposed to, and you care about me more than you should, but none of that matters in the end, does it? We're both trapped by these circumstances and the consequences of my actions two years ago._

The moment stretched out, lengthy and painful, but a movement in the corner of their eyes caught their attention, and he dropped his hand from her cheek as they turned in unison to find Laira watching them. From her expression it was evident that she was shocked and a little hurt by the comfortable intimacy of their positions, and Jack silently cursed again. There were days when it seemed that only thing he was good for was hurting others. Daniel, Sam, Laira...

Carter took a step away, instinctively reaffirming the physical and emotional distance between them. "Fair Day, Laira."

It took the other woman a moment to find her voice, "Fair Day, Major Carter."

Silence.

Carter glanced at him and flashed him a tiny smile before she shifted uncomfortably, like a woman caught in private conference with another woman's husband. "I'm going down to the village to speak with Piera," she told Jack. "I'll see you when it's time to go, sir."

"Sure, Carter." He watched her go, knowing Laira was waiting for his attention, but choosing to ignore her as he'd ignored Carter that other time on Edora years ago.

She never turned back to look at him.

And that hurt most of all.

**End of Part Five**


	6. Secrets and Consequences

**Consequences**

**Part Six**

Teal'c sat in a sea of children on the hillside. Below him, the Edoran fields stretched out, row upon row of plantings, and the people who moved among them, bobbing up and down in the rhythm of farming.

He had a faint smile on his face as he told the children the tale of Fare'ki and the _mivv'kas_. Their expressions in pale faces matched the expression he remembered on his son's face as he told the tale by the firelight of Chulak. As he spoke, his mind drifted to thoughts of his son. Rya'c was in no need of children's tales anymore, rapidly growing into a young man, being taught the best his father and his father's mentor had to offer him.

Unable to watch his son grow up because of the service he owed to his 'god', Teal'c had been forced to settle for the occasional return trips to Chulak and bonding with his son then. He had missed so many things in his young son's life and he bitterly regretted those events. Even now, fighting against the 'gods' he had so longer served, there was little time for his family, but Teal'c knew sometimes the fight must take precedence. Rya'c would someday be a young warrior, of a line of warriors, and he, too, would sire sons and daughters, and make the choice to bring them up or to fight against the Goa'uld.

Teal'c understood O'Neill's feeling when he spoke of his son growing up with a father who could not always be there for his son. O'Neill and he were much alike in that: they both felt the pull of responsibility between family and duty but their duty had come before their family.

There were times when Teal'c wondered if he would ever have the chance to step down from the fight. He doubted it, but his sacrifice now was for the benefit of not only his son, but also his son's children, and their children. Teal'c might never see the day when the Goa'uld were overthrown in the galaxy, but his son would. Or if not Rya'c, then Rya'c's sons.

Still, the way the Tau'ri thought was not the way the Jaffa thought. O'Neill felt the need to be a father to his daughter, and so it would be.

"...so Fare'ki showed his kill of the _kas'dar'ek_ to the priests, and they took the animal, and gave its pelt to Fare'ki for him to wear in pride. When he grew older, he was chosen among the warriors of the god to fight in battle, and he served long and hard. But as long as he lived, Fare'ki never stopped looking for the _mivv'kas_ again, or thanking the _mivv'kas_ for it's help in tracking the _kas'dar'ek_."

The children considered the story for a few quiet seconds before the leader – Tam – spoke. "I like your story better than Major Sam's," he said determinedly. "But I like Major Sam better." Then he looked a little apprehensive; afraid he might have said something improper. "Is that all right?"

Teal'c smiled. This child with his inquisitive nature and his enthusiasm for stories and tales was much like Rya'c had been at the same age. "Yes."

"Do you have any other stories, Jaffa Teal'c?"

"Many other stories," he assured them. "However they would not be suitable for today."

"You'll be visiting again, though, won't you?"

"My friend is remaining here to raise his daughter. I shall come to visit him when I am permitted. So you will have opportunities for many more stories."

Several of the children nodded, and a few got up and began to wander away, but Tam frowned. "Who is your friend's daughter?"

"O'Neill's daughter is Mia, the daughter of Laira."

"Oh." Tam pondered this for a moment before he scrambled to his feet. "Will he dote on Mia?"

"I believe he will, little one."

"Mama says Laira dotes on Mia something dreadful. She says Mia was fortunate that Laira took her in, because otherwise she'd have gone to a family where there were already children and been just one more child of many."

Teal'c frowned. Tam's words suggested that Mia was not Laira's daughter – and therefore not O'Neill's. Yet O'Neill's decision to remain on Edora indicated his belief in his fathering of the child. Teal'c had observed O'Neill with Laira and noted no particular affection on his friend's part – he could not believe O'Neill would stay with the Edoran woman – with any woman – purely for love of her when there was a battle to be fought. O'Neill had more strength of character than that.

There was a squeal from one of the children up the back, "Major Sam's here!" And the tide of children ebbed down the hill as the kids ran and jumped and bounced their way to Major Carter.

Rising to his feet, Teal'c considered the child's words. Was there any way to suggest to O'Neill that he was mistaken in his paternity of Mia? Would O'Neill listen? As he watched Major Carter dispatch the kids down to the village, promising to come to see them before she left, he decided he would ask her opinion on this matter as delicately as possible. She would advise him as to the best course of action.

She watched the children run down to the village, her hands on her hips, before she turned to Teal'c, who had meanwhile descended to where she stood. "I guess the children enjoyed the story?"

"They were most appreciative," Teal'c murmured, thinking of young Tam and his enthusiasm. "Tam in particular."

They started down the path to the village, walking comfortably in company. "That young man will be a terror in years to come," she smiled.

"Something he said to me suggested that Mia is not in fact O'Neill's daughter."

Major Carter paused in conversation and in step. "I know, Teal'c."

He was astonished. "And yet you have not told O'Neill?"

"There's not only the truth at stake here, Teal'c," she said quietly. "The Colonel lost his son years ago. Mia is his second chance – the opportunity to succeed where he thinks he failed before. You know how much he loves children. He was willing to give up everything to have the chance at being a father again. To just tell him Mia isn't who he thinks she is would be...cruel."

Now the thoughts behind her distraction became more apparent. While Teal'c had known for some time that O'Neill and Major Carter had a particular concern for each other, he was also conscious of their friendship and the ties that both bound them together and kept them apart. Yet he would have thought she would not hesitate to inform O'Neill of the reality of the matter.

Teal'c saw what he saw.

"If O'Neill is not told, the discovery of Laira's deceit will be all the more painful when it is finally made, Major Carter. And he will not be pleased that we have held it from him."

"I know." There was a weariness in Major Carter that went beyond the physical. As Teal'c had observed such a tiredness in O'Neill, so, too, was Major Carter weary of the unending battle against the Goa'uld. "But I can't bring myself to tell him, Teal'c. I can't take that from him."

They walked through the village, being watched and greeted by the various Edorans they encountered.

Up ahead, at the junction of the path through the village and the path leading up to the Stargate and the research station, O'Neill waited. His stance indicated impatience and tension, and seeing his friend determined Teal'c's actions.

"If you cannot tell him, Major Carter, then I shall." He said in a low voice, so as not to be overheard by O'Neill.

Her only response was a tense nod.

As they stopped beside him, O'Neill demanded, "Seen your friends, Major?"

"Yes, sir. Have you spoken with Laira?"

Something twitches across his face, "Yes." The short affirmative made Major Carter exchange a puzzled look with Teal'c. O'Neill continued, in the same clipped tones: "Seen Daniel?"

"I'm here, Jack."

"Good. Are we ready to go?"

"O'Neill, there is something that you must know before..."

O'Neill interrupted him, "If it's the news that Mia's not my daughter, then I already know."

"Uh...Jack..."

"Laira told me this morning." O'Neill's lips were set in a thin, angry line. Teal'c was correct in his estimation of his friend's response to the deception. However, his next words were unexpected. "Which is more than Carter was planning to do." He turned the dark intensity of his gaze to Major Carter, who suddenly became uncomfortable under the scrutiny of her team-mate. "Right, Major?"

----

He watched her pale and for that one instant felt more bitterness towards her than he felt towards Laira for tricking him.

It was bad enough to be lied to by Laira.

It was worse to discover Carter an accomplice.

"Jack, you're not making a lot of sense..."

"Well, that's funny, Daniel," he drawled, sarcastically. "Because what doesn't make a lot of sense to me is why Carter was planning to leave me here to rot in this place when she knew Mia wasn't my daughter."

"Can we backtrack to the part about Mia not being yours?" Daniel interrupted. "Because I haven't got that part straight yet. Mia is Laira's daughter..."

"Mia is the daughter of two of the Edorans who came off-world with us, Daniel. She's Milar and Silen's daughter." Carter spoke, quiet and weary. "Her mother died in childbirth, her father died shortly after. Laira adopted Mia as her own."

"And then lied to Jack about him being the father," concluded the archaeologist. In the tenor of the younger man's voice, Jack could hear the overtones of: _Oh boy..._ He wasn't paying any attention to Daniel.

Or to Teal'c, who'd evidently discovered the news sometime this morning and was at least going to give Jack the choice.

Unlike her.

She knew. On the hillside, staring him in the face, she knew. She knew Mia wasn't his daughter, and she let him believe she regretted him leaving SG-1. She knew perfectly well he would remain on Edora for something that wasn't true, and she let him believe the lie.

"If you wanted your own command, Carter, all you had to do was ask Hammond." Was he being petty and small-minded? Probably. He knew that the lure of commanding her own SG-team wasn't what prompted her to keep silent. They weren't as close as he'd like, but they were close enough for him to know her motives.

It only made him angrier.

"You know that wasn't the reason, sir."

"Yeah, I guess I do." It didn't sound like a concession the way he said it, and it wasn't meant to. "We're going to have a long discussion about withholding information from your commanding officer, Major. Once we get home."

_Home_. It sounded good. Home where there was a car and a TV, and hockey games and a world he'd known all his life. He was sorry for Laira – and sorrier for Mia. But while he would always remember little Mia with fondness, he would never be able to stand in as her father. Not while the memory of the lies told to him remained.

"I had my reasons, sir." The blue eyes looked steadily back at him, the shadows that had haunted her this morning now gone and other burdens taking their place. "I made my call."

"It was the wrong one," he grated out harshly. Then he glanced at Daniel. "We're headed out. You have fifteen minutes to say your farewells and get to the Stargate."

"Okay, Jack." Daniel turned to her. "You coming, Sam?"

He felt her eyes upon him a moment longer, before she turned away. "Coming, Daniel."

Jack stalked up to the Stargate, not caring if Teal'c followed him or not.

"O'Neill."

"Teal'c."

"Major Carter had good reason for not wishing to be the one who informed you of the truth."

He was not about to let Teal'c talk him out of his anger. "Did she really? Because it doesn't look that way from where I'm standing."

"She did not wish to be the one to take away your chance at another family. And she did not wish to seem petty."

"Petty? For telling me the truth?" Abruptly, Jack saw what Teal'c was referring to. For Carter to come carrying tales would have seemed like plain old jealousy. A selfish, 'if I can't have him, nobody will' reaction. "Carter's not like that."

"She is not. But she would still hesitate at being the one to bring you the bad news for fear that you did not appreciate her candour. As the messenger, she would not wish to be shot down."

"I'm still angry," he warned the big guy, letting Teal'c know that he hadn't succeeded in talking Jack out of his fury.

Teal'c didn't answer. Quiet and intuitive, Teal'c had a knack for knowing when to speak up and when to remain silent. Now was the time to be silent.

Two years ago, he would have stayed with Laira on Edora and been happy. Without the Stargate and his team, he would have been her husband and the father of as many children as she wished to have. A part of him would always have yearned for the stars, but it would have been a hopeless dream - and Jack O'Neill had never been one to encourage hopeless dreams.

If Mia had been his daughter, he would have remained on Edora to bring her up, but he would never have fitted in among the Edorans, or succeeded in trying. Perhaps eventually he would have resumed his relationship with Laira, but that would have been a long time in coming. Too many other things had changed in him the intervening years.

One of those 'things' arrived at the Stargate, with Daniel, and assorted villagers in tow.

A couple of children clung to her and Daniel, and the pair of them made numerous promises to return.

If they did return, Jack decided, it would be without him. Edora had once meant 'Laira', 'exile', and 'haven' to him. Now it would mean 'lies' and 'deception' and a little child growing up fatherless...because Jack wasn't her father.

He'd said his farewells to Laira and Mia. His anger had been as much for the loss of his dreams of family as at being lied to. The baby girl had burbled at him, and he'd squashed the longing in his heart as he looked from her to Laira. Yes, he still dreamed of a home and family and children. But he wanted such a thing to be his own choice, not something he was trapped into by a few well-placed lies.

If she'd told him the truth to begin with, told him she wanted him to be Mia's father, asked him to stay...

He would never have left the fight against the Goa'uld for her and her daughter. His own daughter, yes. Hers...no.

"Carter, Daniel, are we finished?"

Daniel hugged one more child, and then crossed over to where Jack and Teal'c waited, separate from the waiting villagers. She kissed Tam on the cheek and promised him a story when she returned. In a sudden burst of cynicism, Jack almost felt like shaking the kid and telling him to snap out of his infatuation. Carter broke hearts with little effort. She was damn good at it by now.

She took up her position beside him. "Sir?"

"Not now, Carter."

"There's someone who wants to speak to you, sir." Her eyes flickered to the path, and Jack turned and saw Laira coming up behind the other villagers. He looked back at the Stargate, grim as the hard-ass Colonel he'd been six years ago when they sent him through to blow up the world on the other side of the wormhole. "I have nothing to say to her."

The sight of Laira was painful – the eye of a maelstrom of memories that he'd always associate with Edora. She'd been kind to the desolate stranger who had come to her planet, and gentle with the scars of his lost life and his lost friends; but she had also been willing to take him from those friends with a lie – however powerfully her motives had driven her.

Beside him, the blonde hair of his 2IC glinted in the speckled sun filtering down through the leaf canopy above them. The sight of her stung, too. He could accept Laira's motives for lying to him – but not Sam's reasons for not telling him the truth. Laira's betrayal he could deal with, someone for whom he had a fondness and with whom he had briefly shared intimacy – it didn't shake him to the core as Carter's betrayal did: the betrayal of a trusted friend.

But first and foremost, Carter was his team-mate. Things between them were professional – angry as he might be. Personal came later. The way it always did with them.

And maybe now he understood how Daniel and Carter and Teal'c had felt when he went undercover without telling them.

_Payback is hell, Jack._

Nevertheless, acid bitterness stained his voice as he indicated the DHD to his friend.

"Dial it up, Daniel," he ordered. "Let's go home."

----

He was gone again.

He would not be returning.

The deception had been wrong – she knew it in her heart. It had been wrong and foolish to suppose she could hope to hold a man like Jack O'Neill.

_Better he found out now than later. Even had he come to you again, he would have been all the more furious at being deceived._

Laira had seen it as he held Mia. For Mia alone he would have stayed – not for her. By Mia alone would she have held him – not by any affection he still held for her, but she had been willing to take the chance when it presented itself.

She could not have competed with his friends.

It would have been a competition, she acknowledged now. They would have held the primary position in his heart, alongside Mia, and Laira would have been relegated lower.

Much as she loved him – the man she had known for those three months after the Fire-Rain – she had enough pride to let him go back to his people.

_Piera was right. It was not well to deceive him_.

And she could not have competed with the woman he called his second-in-command.

Two years ago, he had thought of Major Samantha Carter as one of his friends, little more. Yet their stasis on the path from the lake showed Laira just how much had changed in two years. The man who had cared about Laira enough to ask her to return with him to Earth was not the same man who touched another woman's face at having to return to Edora.

At that moment, Laira knew she would tell him the truth.

Piera had confronted her that morning along the causeway.

_A man like Colonel O'Neill will not appreciate being held through a lie, Laira. And I do not appreciate being made complicit in your dishonesty._ As always, Piera did not select her words with particular care, but stated the situation as bluntly as she saw it. _You would have had us believe he stayed with you of his own will, not because he believes he has responsibilities to Mia. You would have him believe he owes you and Mia something, when in truth he does not._

There had been no defence against the other woman's calm but brutal statements.

Would she have told the truth if not for Major Carter's knowledge of the lie?

_Sam – Major Carter – knows you have lied to him. I do not know whether she will tell him the truth or leave it in your hands, but better the truth come from you, Laira._

As they turned towards her on the path from the lake, startled at being caught together – and yet unashamed – Laira saw that the Major had not told him. Jack still believed he was bound to this planet by Mia.

The woman treated Laira with every sign of respect, even knowing the deception Laira had practised to ensnare the man both women cared about. And that in and of itself stiffened Laira's resolve to tell him.

If Major Samantha Carter could be strong in the face of losing him to what she knew was a lie, then Laira could be strong and tell Jack the truth about Mia. If he stayed, then he was truly hers; but if he went, she would know he had never been hers to keep in the first place.

And he went.

He walked through the Stargate without a further word to her, his words said, his anger spent.

Of the four travellers, it was Major Carter who turned back, her gaze holding Laira's in understanding and compassion before she also stepped through the stone circle to another world and another life of, which Laira had no comprehension and never would.

Mia grumbled in her arms, and Laira looked down at her daughter.

_There will only be you and I, little one. He has gone back to his own people now there is nothing to keep him here. There was never anything to keep him here but the lies I let him believe. In that, I was sorely mistaken and wrong._

It ached to be alone again.

But amidst the ache something in her glowed warmly. She had given him the truth of the matter, and as she explained why she had not told him the truth before this, he had finally understood how much he had meant to her. And with that, Laira captured a little piece of his heart, hers forever, frozen in those few nights he had slept in her bed.

Whatever other women resided in his heart, whether Major Samantha Carter held sway or some other of whom Laira knew nothing, Laira of Edora would always have that fragment of Jack O'Neill and the man he had been when the world and the life he knew was lost to him for those brief three months.

And with that much she would have to be content.

----

It was a relief to have his best team back.

Even if the Colonel was unusually subdued after the deception the Edoran woman practised on him.

His team was certainly glad to be able to keep him.

Jack himself was angry – angry and disappointed. From what George had observed, part of that anger and disappointment was focused at Major Carter, who apparently had known of the deception, but had chosen to withhold the truth from her CO. Doubtless she had her reasons: Sam Carter was not the vindictive or thoughtless kind. It simply eluded the General as to what those reasons might be.

Still, he believed SG-1 would be right. He had to believe they would be right. They were a team – his best team, but they were more: they were family to each other – the family Jack had thought the Edoran and her daughter would be to him when he returned to Edora. A different kind of family to the man-wife-child family considered 'traditional', but still with the care and concern for each other that a family had – in good times and bad.

Only time would tell whether this would be counted one of the good times or one of the bad.

But Major General George Hammond had faith in them.

They'd sort out their differences. They'd pull together again.

They were SG-1.

**End of Part Six**

**End Consequences**


End file.
